The Partisan Tools At Journo-List And Trig  —  Remember all those liberals and lefties huffily denouncing this blog's attempts to make sense of Sarah Palin's bizarre stories about the pregnancy and birth of her alleged fifth child?  I was nuts, crazy, vile, disgusting, etc etc to indulge in what Dave Weigel …

TPM Exclusive: Steele To Hold RNC Event — Co-Starring Andrew Breitbart  —  Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele has a party fundraising event coming up in August that is scheduled to feature a very special guest: Conservative media activist Andrew Breitbart …

Tancredo will run for governor as American Constitution Party candidate  —  Republican Tom Tancredo, right, supported Scott McInnis' gubernatorial bid last November.  Now, Tancredo is saying he will run for governor.  (Matt McClain, Special to the Denver Post)

Review of WikiLeaks docs sees no smoking gun  —  Pentagon still reviewing records, but so far finds no threat to U.S. security  —  WASHINGTON, D.C. — An ongoing Pentagon review of the massive flood of secret documents made public by the WikiLeaks website has so far found no evidence …

Obama slams GOP on Disclose Act  —  President Obama called out Senate Republicans on Monday for holding up a vote on a contentious piece of campaign finance legislation.  —  Senate Democrats plan to vote on cloture for the Disclose Act on Tuesday, though it remains unclear whether they have the 60 votes necessary to end debate.

Rangel: ‘Trauma,’ ‘more alleged violations’  —  After sounding defiant in his first round with reporters just now, embattled Rep. Charles Rangel sounded sad and seemed downcast and somewhat gaslit as he talked about how “traumatic” he had found the experience.

Tennessee Lt. Gov: Religious Freedom May Not Count For Muslims (VIDEO)  —  Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey, currently running third in the state's Republican gubernatorial primary race, says he's not sure if Constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion apply to the followers of the world's second-largest faith, Islam.

Senate GOP to hold hearings on Black Panther tale?  —  By now you've heard that Senate Republicans have announced that they're seeking hearings into whether Obama's Justice Department engaged in racial bias in connection with the decision to pursue the voter intimidation case against the New Black Panthers as a civil action.

Armageddon Wars: Overpopulation Vs. Global Warming  —  My colleague Ross Douthat has a nice column today that reminded me of the famous 1980 bet between Paul Ehrlich and Julian Simon.  —  Mr. Ehrlich, an ecologist, expected population growth and economic growth to set off a mad scramble for natural resources.

Senator Barbara Boxer: serving in the military is like being a member of Congress  —  At a campaign event over the weekend in Inglewood, California, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer seemingly equated being a politician to serving in the military — and an Iraq War veteran supporting Boxer's November opponent is calling on her to apologize.

Lawmakers Question Salaries at Nonprofits  —  State and federal officials are starting to take their knives to the pay of leaders of nonprofit groups they do business with to help share the pain of tighter budgets.  —  A provision in New Jersey's recently passed budget, for example …

Paul Ryan Schools Chris Matthews on Tax Hikes, Budgets and Economics 101  —  Chris Matthews on Monday got a much-needed lesson from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) on how tax hikes impact the budget as well as the economy.  —  “Congressman Ryan, is there any tax role for reducing our $1.4 trillion …

Why Tax Estates Instead of Inheritances?  —  A friend on facebook asks a reasonable question: what is the justification for taxing estates, rather than inheritances?  After all, why should we care if Bill Gates wants to leave $300 apiece to millions of people?

Two Cheers for the Administration on Megrahi  —  We noted yesterday the controversy over the Obama administration's reaction to Scotland's proposed release of Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohment al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds, i.e., the claim that he was about to die.

Rory Reid hampered by his last name in race for Nevada governor  —  With Sen. Harry Reid on the ballot, his son Rory is having a hard time in his race for governor persuading Nevada voters to elect two from the family.  —  Reporting from Washoe City, Nev. — Rory Reid would like to be Nevada's next governor, but there's a problem.

New Hampshire Poll Preview  —  The New Hampshire Senate numbers we'll have coming out this week (general election Tuesday, primary Wednesday) are a great example of the double edged sword that is a Sarah Palin endorsement.  In the short term Kelly Ayotte has opened a wide lead in the Republican primary.

Momentum For Senate Filibuster Reform Builds  —  WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?  —  Momentum is building to reform Senate rules that allow silent filibusters and force a 60-vote requirement for virtually any action, interviews with Democratic candidates and sitting senators indicate.

GOP, Chamber target new tax-reporting rule  —  Sen. Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) this week continued his push to eliminate a controversial tax-reporting provision of the new healthcare reform law, vowing to offer his repeal bill at every turn.  —  “I will file this amendment on every viable vehicle …

Bush-era CIA director: Attack on Iran ‘seems inexorable’  —  An attack on Iran isn't the worst possible outcome from Tehran's desire to have nuclear weapons, according to a former CIA director appointed by George W. Bush.  —  Gen. Michael Hayden told CNN's Candy Crowley Sunday that an attack on Iran now “seems inexorable.”